Friday, May 26, 2023

Electric School Bus? Not Ready For Prime Time

Amusing.  This is a Lefty town, and a Lefty administrator tells the truth.  The lament is exactly the one you will hear about windmill- and sun-catcher-generated electricity, by the way.  "Downtime" and 'not fully on the road.'

Michigan's fourth-largest school district is having "significant" performance issues with its expensive electric buses,...

... During an April 19 presentation to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, the district's environmental sustainability director, Emile Lauzzana, highlighted a number of issues with the district's electric bus fleet. Those buses, Lauzzana said, have "a lot of downtime and performance issues" and aren't "fully on the road," despite the fact that they are "approximately five times more expensive than regular buses." The infrastructure upgrades required to use the buses, meanwhile, were "originally estimated to be only about $50,000" but "ended up being more like $200,000," according to Lauzzana. "I have a number of colleagues in different states who are facing similar challenges," the district official lamented....

As to the cost, we've heard 'three times' the cost of diesel- or propane-fired.  Five times?  Wow.  We're not surprised that the supporting infrastructure came in high, either.  UPDATE:  The Thomas-Built (Daimler Truck subsidiary) electric bus costs about $400K.)

Don't let your school district make a fool out of you!

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